OSWEGO -- Hinsdale South head coach Danny Makaric painted a word picture to describe what it was like playing against Oswego East on Thursday.

“The car (kept) going down the hill,” he said.

“I see what is probably normal when you’re at the sophomore level. If you (allow) a goal, you’re probably going to allow a couple more.”

Oswego East was in cruise control from the beginning and pressed hard against Hinsdale South.

While the Hornets struggled connecting on short passes, often missing the mark or turning the ball over to an Oswego East player, the Wolves played like they had magnets attached to their spikes and the ball was made of metal. They easily found each other in open spots on the pitch.

Part of that ease comes with a veteran team -- six of the starters were seniors. Szymanski has nine seniors on the roster. There’s just one sophomore, Kyle Blasingame, on the varsity squad -- that's a sharp contrast to Hinsdale South’s much younger group.

It took 10 minutes before the hosts opened the flood gates with a rebound that bounced around in the box before Zach Lass picked up the loose change and sent it past scrambling Hornets goalie Bryan Alcantara.

After Oswego East broke the ice, the goals flowed. They tallied two more in the next four minutes and scored twice more before the halfway point of the first half.

Oswego East benefitted from a recent return of players, but none more so than Tristen Stewart, the centerpiece of their midfield. He returned from an illness that kept him out for five days.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy, especially the first 20 minutes or so. We’ve been finally getting guys back,” head coach Steve Szymanski said. “This is our first time with our full 21 guys in our last three games.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit as far as defensively, in our last two games we’ve given up nine goals (in a 5-0 loss to Downers Grove South and a 4-4 PK win against Southwest Prairie Conference for Romeoville). So I’m happy with the effort.”

The scoring was fairly evenly spread out for the Wolves. After Lass got the party started, a goal followed shortly after from Ford Frazer, who made it happen thanks to his speed and a beautiful cross from Dawson Johnson.

Though he played only 15-20 minutes in his return to the pitch, Stewart looked at ease on the field and picked up the team’s third tally as well as the assist on the next goal by Manuel Magana.

The fifth goal also came from the foot of Magana, who was perfectly placed when he gathered a ball that tipped off a Hinsdale South defender. Junior Leo Lopez rounded out the scoring in the first half with a goal with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half off an assist from Kevin Moreno.

After the break, Frazer picked up his second goal and substitute Brad Allgaier picked up the last score of the game.

Szymanski used a lot of players and swapped keeper Nathan Huerter out for backup Xavier Pacheco in the first half.

Not tallying a goal but setting up some fantastic shots was senior forward Ryan Aten, who finished with three assists.

“This team’s strength is definitely communication,” Aten said. “We’re all really strong players. We all work the ball really well together with each other, all the way through the field.”

Though he didn’t make the score sheet, Michael Waclaw had a strong game too, showing off some deadly speed that kept Hinsdale South on their heels and allowed Oswego to remain strong on the attack whenever he had the ball.

Oswego East is now trending in the right direction. A tough opening quartet of games (no. 1 Naperville Central, Waubonsie Valley, Elgin and Hinsdale Central), left the team with an 0-2-2 record out of the box. The Wolves (3-3-2) scratched back to even on the season with their first back-to-back wins of the season, and have taken 3 of their last 4 matches.

What made matters worse for Hinsdale South (0-7-0) on Thursday was an injury bug that refused to stop biting the team. After Oswego East's third goal, Hornet’s keeper Alcantara was involved in a crash in the box with an Oswego East player who went barreling in chasing a cross sent from Manuel Magana.

Alcantara went down hard and stayed on the field before he was pulled out of the game for concussion-testing protocol. Karel Ondra came in as the backup keeper after playing midfield in the match. He didn't have any better luck. Oswego East put another in within a minute of him taking the line.

The combination of injuries sustained early in the season and having a younger team has presented a serious challenge to second-year Hinsdale South coach Makaric.

“Two of our starting central defenders (are injured). We had three sophomores on our defensive line, and (Oswego East) is big, they’re all seniors,” said Makaric. “That’s our major problem this year - our defense. ... If you’re going from our starting lineup, we’re pretty young. We have only three seniors in our first 11.”